News

Can green hydrogen transform Chile’s future?

Posted by Rodrigo Barra Novoa on 2026-08-11

When people talk about green hydrogen, the conversation tends to focus on technology. They discuss electrolysers, renewable energy and the billions of dollars that this new market will generate. However, whilst reviewing the latest scientific literature, reports from international organisations and Chile’s own experience, a question arose that ultimately guided this entire research project: what [...]

Scottish Lime Finishes and their moderating effect in storm conditions

Posted by Tim Meek on 2026-07-20

Our research shows that traditional lime harling and limewash do far more than define the appearance of Scottish architecture—they are essential to keeping wind-driven rain out. Historic buildings have survived for centuries, yet many are increasingly vulnerable to water penetration and decay making many of them unviable in a changing climate. This interdisciplinary study explores why [...]

UCL Open Environment receives first CiteScore

Posted by UCL Open Environment Editorial Office on 2026-06-18

UCL Open Environment is pleased to announce a 2025 CiteScore of 4.0 following indexing in Scopus last year. Researchers publishing in the journal will be indexed automatically in Scopus, in addition to the list of other indexers, including PMC.Scopus, a leading abstract and citation database by Elsevier, serves as a key indicator of a journal’s quality and impact within the academic community. [...]

Cruise Ships at COP30 and the Future of Climate Summits

Posted by Joffrey Doma on 2026-05-28

Referred to as “the people’s COP” by Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, COP30, hosted in Belém on the edge of the Amazon, was meant to center climate justice, ecological protection, as well as the voices of the Global South. However, the conference’s emphasis on Amazonian visibility and inclusivity, was potentially overshowed by controversy. Primarily, COP30 further highlighted the [...]

Planetary health starts in our cities

Posted by UCL Open Environment Editorial Office on 2026-02-04

The biophysical and human worlds are linked in an interwoven planetary system. This blog draws on a recent editorial published in UCL Open Environment, which explores how human health depends on finite biophysical processes and the role cities play in delivering solutions to the environmental crises they have helped to create. Planetary health brings this interdependence into focus. It asks how [...]

Calls for papers

Posted by UCL Open Environment Editorial Office on 2026-01-23

Throughout the year, UCL Open Environment launches a number of thematic special series exploring the journal's aims and scope. Details of each special series and its calls for papers can be found in the below links. This page is kept up-to-date with all current calls for papers. Find out more about how to submit to the journal: How to submit Open calls for papers and series Planetary [...]

Tiny Daphnia, Big Impact: How a Mini Assay Is Changing the Way We Test Low Volume Water Samples

Posted by Eberhard Küster on 2025-09-25

In ecotoxicology, the test using Daphnia magna immobilisation is a work‑horse for checking whether a water sample may be harmful to the aquatic environment. In parallel, researchers and regulators are asked to monitor water quality more often and with less effort and expenses. With evaluation of precious, low‑volume samples – think micro‑plastics leachates, nanomaterial suspensions, or field [...]

UCL Open Environment Indexed in Scopus – A Milestone for Environmental Research

Posted by UCL Open Environment Editorial Office on 2025-07-30

We are delighted to announce that UCL Open Environment has been accepted for indexing in Scopus, a leading abstract and citation database for peer-reviewed literature. This marks a major milestone in the journal’s development and reinforces our commitment to publishing high-quality, impactful environmental research. Previously published and future articles in UCL Open Environment will be [...]

Ineffective sorting systems: A major barrier to the circular economy of contaminated plastics

Posted by Nutcha Taneepanichskul, Helen C Hailes and Mark Miodownik on 2025-04-10

Environmental pollution leading to global warming is no longer a distant threat; it is knocking on our door, demanding immediate action. Among the major contributors to this crisis is plastic pollution. While there is increasing encouragement, including through popularisation, education, and policy measures—towards the use of biodegradable and recyclable materials, current waste management [...]

In a hostile climate, keep on decarbonising with a virtual carbon price

Posted by Richard Clarke and Mark Maslin on 2025-03-05

Reaching the Net Zero 1.5°C goal now requires some form of geological Direct Air Capture. With US climate action under siege, how can public bodies, corporations and individual engineers keep on track towards decarbonisation? We propose a virtual ‘loss and damage’ based carbon price that reflects the current and future economic impacts of extreme weather and extreme heat. By accounting for [...]

Procedural justice and (in)equitable participation in climate negotiations

Posted by Carola Klöck, Christian Baatz, Nils Wendler on 2025-02-07

The yearly Conferences of the Parties (COPs) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) have become real “mega-events”, attracting tens of thousands of participants each year. The last COP, COP29, held in Baku, Azerbaijan, in November 2024, for example, was attended by just under 30,000 participants, about half of whom represented states (note that these numbers exclude [...]

Celebrating five years of highly cited articles

Posted by UCL Open Environment Editorial Office on 2025-01-27

As we welcome the start of 2025 we want to take a moment to celebrate some of our highly cited publications – in part as a testament to the rigorous efforts of our Editors’, reviewers’, and authors’ contribution to their fields. Reflecting on just how far UCL Open Environment has come since opening for submissions in 2019, this post explores some of the papers published in the journal that shows [...]

COP and UCL Open Environment

Posted by UCL Open Environment Editorial Office on 2024-11-11

From 11-22 November 2024, nearly 200 world leaders and 30,000 delegates will come together in Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, to coordinate global climate action for the year ahead at the latest UN Climate Change Convention Conference of the Parties (COP). We at UCL Open Environment, an open access and open science journal, reflect on some of the articles that have published in the journal’s [...]

Use of Lime plaster in naturally ventilated spaces and its associated risk for mould growth

Posted by Vismaya Paralkar and Rashmin Damle on 2024-10-08

In today's rapidly evolving construction industry, we've observed a shift towards unsustainable materials, with lime being replaced by cement plaster. However, it's important to recognize the significance of using lime plaster, especially in the restoration of historical buildings, to maintain their original character. Despite the prevailing dominance of cement plaster in the market, our interest [...]

Peer Review Week 2024 - A conversation with Yasemin Aktas

Posted by UCL Open Environment Editorial Office on 2024-09-30

This year, to mark Peer Review Week, UCL Open Environment sat down with Deputy Editor, Dr Yasemin Aktas (University College London, UK) for a brief conversation on open peer review. With growing academic workloads and time devoted to other things, securing peer reviewers is becoming increasingly difficult, especially when hearing reports about canvassing large numbers of reviewers who do not [...]